Courage
by Lolly4Holly
Summary: Nick is kidnapped by the strangest psycho around. Will he escape their madness or will they torture him to death?  Some Nick angst  Warning Nick/Greg minor slash
1. Chapter 1

Courage

**Short Story I thought of while writing my new book. It should be around four chapters once I've finished it. I hope you enjoy it. **

**Author:** Lolly4Holly, no beta this time

**Rated:** **(T) NC-17**

**Pairings:** **Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders pre-slash**

**Summary:** **Nick is kidnapped by the strangest psycho around. Will he escape their madness or will they torture him to death? **(Some Nick angst)

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own CSI or any of its characters.**

**Warnings:** **Adult content, violence some gore and M/M minor slash relationship.**

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**Chapter One:**

"Nick!" Greg called out his name as he entered the layout room. Nick smiled up at him before he continued working on the boot prints laid out on the table in front of him. Greg leant on the table beside him, watching him a moment before he placed his hand over the top of Nick's.

"What are you doin' G?" He asked completely surprised as he looked up into the younger mans eyes.

"I can't stay away from you anymore." Greg looked into Nick's eyes as he curled their fingers together. "I know you like me Nicky; I've seen you staring at me."

Greg trailed his soft fingertip across Nick's bare arm, making the hairs on his arm stand on end.

"W-when?" Nick stammered through a shaky breath as he could feel the younger mans hot breath on his neck.

"This morning . . . at the crime scene," Greg whispered, fluttering his long lashes across his cheeks as he slid his fingertip across Nick's bicep. "When you were staring at my butt." He continued on until his fingertip reached Nick's prickly jaw line. "So, why haven't you asked me out yet? It's been years Nicky."

"Wa-wait." Nick stopped him as Greg's other hand rested on his thigh. He lifted it from his leg then pushed Greg's other hand away from his chin, looking into the younger mans seductive brown eyes. He gulped hard then did something he had wanted to do for a long time.

Nick crashed his lips into Greg's, giving him a soft closed mouth kiss before he gently slid his tongue across his lips, teasing them open before he slid his tongue into the warm wet mouth of his best friend.

Nick moaned softly as Greg's tongue massaged his own. He parted his lips against Greg's as he gasped for breath, soon realising he wasn't in the lab with Greg, but he was in bed alone, having yet another fantasy dream about Greg.

Rubbing his tired eyes open, Nick sat up then looked around at the time, realising he had only been asleep for two hours and already he was dreaming about the man he had fallen in love with, but was too chicken to let him know.

Nick reached for his phone on the bedside table, scrolling through his contacts until he got to Greg's name. His thumb hovered over the call send button as he thought about calling Greg to see if he was awake.

But Nick chickened out again.

He tossed the phone onto the side then readjusted his uncomfortably tight shorts before he struggled to get back to sleep again.

No matter what he did, he couldn't ever stop thinking about Greg.

Suddenly a hand clamped down over his mouth. Nick snapped his eyes open, struggling to reach out to his attacker, but the hand over his mouth smelt funny, and the more he struggled the sleepier he became.

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Nick awoke in darkness. His hands were tightly cuffed behind his back in metal restraints, there was blood in his mouth and the pain in his head was so bad it made him retch. He struggled to get his hands free, but his wrists were securely tied.

There was no getting out of them any time soon.

Taking a look around the room he was inside, Nick spotted a half open sleeping bag in the corner of the room. A shoddy looking stool in the middle of the room and a flickering light overhead that made his head hurt even more.

The pain was so excruciating, it felt as though a spiked bowling ball was rolling around there.

Suddenly, the door in the far corner loudly creaked open, making Nick wince from the pain in his head. Two large guys made their way over to him then lifted him so he was up on his knees.

A third man walked into the room once they had Nick secure.

Nick ran his eyes across the carefully polished shoes, the perfectly pressed pants and the posh business suit jacket; complete with a neatly folded pocket square and a matching tie. He raised his eyes to his face, shivering as his looks were fearfully ugly. He looked as though he had lost a fight with a lawn mower from all the scars and deep gashes to his facial features, along with the cold dark eyes and the jaggered teeth that screamed psycho killer.

"Evening." He started in a hoarse whisper as he made his way into the room, towards where Nick was kneeling.

"What do you want from me?" Nick asked as he stood right in front of him.

"We're going to . . . play a little game." He erupted into a wide smile then started to cackle with laughter as Nick looked up at him in fear for his life.

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**Please Review!**

**I hope you liked the beginning :D Next chapter should be up by tomorrow.**

**~ Holly**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

"Arrggh!" Nick groaned as he was forced to his knees on the cold hard floor of another room.

The man behind him uncuffed his hands then stepped aside. Nick flexed his fingers, gasping in pain as he renewed circulation to them. The cuffs had been so tight that they cut deep into his wrists and stopped the blood supply to his hands and fingers.

A rotten toothed smile spread across the ugly man's face as he made his way into the room. Nick felt as though he was about to vomit from the stench in the room. It smelt like decomp, and a lot of it, but he didn't want to look around for fear of what he might see.

"What is your name?" The ugly man asked as he knelt down in front of Nick, lifting his chin with his bony hand to force him to look him in the eye. "I'm Hanson, this is Bernie," He signalled to the bigger guy with charcoal black hair behind Nick, wearing dark dirty jeans, ripped at the knees and a t-shirt that his large muscles were bulging out of. "And that's Mack." He pointed to the other guy behind Nick, slightly smaller than Bernie; he was wearing a pair of dirty jeans and a tanned jacket over a very grimy t-shirt, but he had a look on his face that made you not want to mess with him.

"What is your name?" He asked again as he lifted Nick's chin slightly higher to look him dead in the eye.

"My name..." Nick coughed on the fumes in the room, before he looked Hanson in the eye too. "Is go fuck yourself!"

Hanson shook his head as he sighed in disappointment.

Climbing to his feet, he nodded to Mack who gave Nick a hard thump to the back of his neck. Nick fell forwards, putting his hands out in front of him to stop his head from hitting the floor. He winced in agony then looked back up at Hanson still smiling at him.

"We'll just call you . . . John." He suggested, giving him another sinister grin. "Welcome to the party John. First round is easy, a little game of name that compound."

Nick looked at Hanson as though he was completely deranged. He was expecting a mass of torture and pain from the way Hanson was speaking, but instead, a game of name that compound? Strange. Very strange.

Hanson's man Bernie disappeared out the door, quickly returning a few seconds later, wheeling in a chalk board behind him before he handed his boss a stick of white chalk.

Nick winced and cringed as the chalk nosily scraped against the surface of the board. Hanson started by drawing a series of lines, followed by the letters 'H – C – N – O' and the number three appeared twice.

"Oh," Nick recognised it almost immediately as Hanson started joining the lines between the letters. "Cocaine."

Hanson rolled his eyes round at him. "Chemical name John!"

"Benzoylmethylecgonine." He spoke quickly as Bernie came towards him with a menacing look on his face.

"Good." Hanson's ugliness stretched into something that could be described as an almost proud smile. "Next one."

Nick once again winced and cringed as the chalk screeched across the board. This time Hanson drew two diagonal lines, mirroring one another. At the bottom of each line he put in an 'H' then at the top where the lines met, he wrote an 'S'.

"Hydrogen sul... Hydrogen sulphide!" Nick practically shouted as Mack slammed his hand down on the back of his neck.

"Very Good. You're very good at this John; most people can't even guess one." Hanson snickered to himself then tried to think of a hard one as he scrubbed the board clean.

Hanson started with the letters 'H – C – O – N' jotting them all around the board before he added three number threes to it. He started drawing the lines in between; checking over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure that Nick was still paying attention.

"Um..." Nick stared at the various letters and lines between them, struggling to think as his pounding headache persisted on giving him a hard time. "Oh, Heroin... I mean diacetylmorphine!"

"Excellent, very well done John. Onto round two."

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**Please Review!**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, next chapter should be done by tomorrow :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

"Round Two, John! Are yah having fun yet?" Nick just rolled his eyes at Hanson, wishing he could find some way out of here and out of these stupid games he was playing with him. "This round... is the math round."

"Math? Are you kiddin' me!" Nick looked round at Hanson, Bernie and Mack, but they really weren't kidding him, they were serious. "Fine go ahead, play another one of your lame games!"

"They are not lame!" Hanson protested then nodded to Bernie beside him. Bernie slammed his fist down on the back of Nick's neck sending him crashing to the ground. Nick winced in pain, but didn't have time to relax as Bernie yanked him to his feet again a few seconds later. "We'll up the stakes a little then... every question you get wrong," Hanson tapped his fingers across his chin as he tried to think of the perfect punishment. "Bernie, what are you thinking of?"

"I wonna break his fingers!" He spoke in a dumb hick accent before he started laughing and snorting to himself.

"Now, now... no need to be so mean to our guest." Hanson snickered as he looked over at Nick. "Although, that is a very good idea. What do you think John?"

Nick just replied with a grunt as he was still in pain from the hard hit to his back.

"Okay, first question. I'll make it an easy one since we interrupted your sleep." Hanson's mouth spread into a rotten toothed smile again before he set himself down in a chair behind him. Hanson placed his hands in his lap then bit his lower lip as he tried to think up the perfect math problem. "Okay John, first one... there's two hundred and sixty-eight people at an airport." He started, smiling to himself as Nick was already frowning at him. "Thirteen of them are employees and eighty-eight of them are children. How many are passengers?"

Nick gave out a soft sigh as he tried to think. "Two hundred . . . and fifty-five." He answered after a few minutes of silence, disappointing Bernie as he wanted to break his fingers.

"Very good John." Hanson nodded to him then stared up at the ceiling as he tried to think of another question, slightly more difficult this time, or so he thought. "There's seven hundred and five people in a hospital. Two hundred and thirty-two of them aren't patients and one hundred and fifty of them are visitors." Nick widened his eyes as he tried to think clearly with all the numbers swimming around inside of his sore head. "How many of them are patients?"

Nick looked at Hanson then at Bernie, holding one of his fingers ready to snap. "Um..." He closed his eyes as he tried to think the problem through in his head. Seven hundred and five people total and two hundred and thirty-two of them weren't patients. "Four... four hundred and... seventy . . . four?"

"No!" Hanson snickered.

"No, I mean four hundred and seventy-three!" Nick quickly corrected, but it was too late.

Bernie snapped his index finger in his strong muscular hands. Nick clenched his teeth together, clamping his eyes tightly shut as tears of pain threatened to spill.

"Oh, that sounded like it hurt." Hanson weakly sympathised with him. "It's okay John, only two more questions to go then we're onto round three. Let's try a little division this time." He suggested, leaning forwards on his chair to look Nick in the eye. "There's thirty days in September. If one hundred and eighty people died in Las Vegas that month, how many died each day?"

"That's easy... six." Nick answered hesitantly as Bernie held his middle finger in his hands, ready to snap.

"That's correct." Hanson groaned. "I thought that was gonna be a hard one." He muttered to himself then tried to think of the last question. "Okay, okay mister smarty pants. What's the square route of five hundred and twenty-nine?"

Nick quickly calculated it in his head then answered, "Twenty-three." He laughed softly as Hanson tried to calculate it for himself. "Is that it? Can I go now?"

"No!" Hanson snapped. "Don't make a mockery of me mister." He warned him as Nick continued to smile. "Fine, we'll up the stakes even more. Onto round three!"

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**Please Review!**

**The torture may seem really lame, but don't worry, it's meant to be like that. It'll all make sense later :D**

**I'll try and get the next chapter up by tomorrow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

"Round Three," Hanson spoke as Bernie and Mack forced Nick to his knees in front of a troth full of dirty water. "This, this just happens to be my favourite round of them all." Hanson snickered as he perched himself on the edge of the troth beside Nick. "I'm gonna ask you some questions about your life John, and if I sense that you aren't answering me truthfully," Hanson pointed towards the water. "I hold you under until you tell the truth."

Nick frowned at him, thinking this round was even lamer than the last one.

"What is your real name, John?" He asked him first, looking Nick in the eye as Bernie and Mack took hold of him, ready to dunk his head into the troth of dirty water. Nick gave out a sigh then looked at Hanson, shaking his head. "Fine, be like that." Hanson nodded to Bernie and Mack who immediately forced his head into the water, holding him under a few seconds before they pulled him back to a kneeling position again.

Nick coughed on the water in his throat, feeling the cold dirty drips trickling down the side of his head, soaking his soft brown hair to his handsome features.

"What is your real name?" Hanson asked again, leaning closer this time so Nick could see the deep gashes to his face in more detail.

Nick persisted on shaking his head again though.

Hanson nodded to his men, watching Nick's head being forced under the water again. He splashed and spluttered about before Bernie and Mack finally pulled him out. Mack gave him a hard tap to the back as Nick coughed up the water from his chest, beginning to make his throat feel sore.

"Nick." He spoke in a hoarse throaty voice before he coughed, finally giving in.

"Ah, hello Nick." Hanson smiled at him, ruffling his bony hand through Nick's tousled wet hair. "Next question, is there someone in your life that you love?" Nick shook his head, but Hanson smiled to his men, signalling for them to push him under again.

Nick held his breath this time as they forced his head under.

They held him down for a few seconds then pulled him back up to face Hanson.

"No!" Nick answered, rubbing the water from his eyes as it was starting to make them sting. "There's no one!"

"You disappoint me Nick." Hanson tusked as he shook his head at him. "Here I thought we were beginning to become friends, but you're still lying to me." Hanson nodded to his men, moving back as they forced his head under, not giving him time to take a breath of air this time.

Nick hoarsely coughed as they pulled him back out. The water tasted like it had motor oil or rust in it, making him gag.

"There's no one." He repeated, persistent on not telling Hanson anything in case he wanted to do something to Greg.

"Oh Nick," Hanson sighed in disappointment. "We both know there is someone. Someone special that you think of while you sleep." Nick looked up at him surprised. "You said their name when we came in your room."

"No I didn't." Shaking his head, Nick discreetly gripped the edge of the troth so no one would notice.

"You did. You said 'Greg.' Looked like a pretty happy dream too." He snickered as he looked round at Nick. "So Nick, who's this Greg?"

"No one." Nick angrily glared up at him, beginning to feel more and more pissed off with his stupid games.

"Nobody has dreams like that over no one."

"He's no one." Nick insisted then watched Hanson nodding to his men behind him.

This time Nick firmly gripped the edge of the troth, making it very difficult for them to try and force Nick into the troth.

As they loosened their grip to try again, Nick forced his elbow back into Mack's jaw, sending him flying backwards. He pushed Bernie aside then went for Hanson, managing to overpower him easily as his frame was so thin.

With their boss in hand, Nick easily managed to back up towards the door that they brought him in through.

Bernie and Mack looked on helplessly at their leader as they were clearly the kind that followed orders, but couldn't think for themselves.

Nick managed to make his way out the room with Hanson in his grasp. He locked the door, keeping Bernie and Mack sealed in then forced Hanson to the ground while he made a run for it still in his shorts, beginning to wheeze already from the thick dust in the air and the dry throat caused by his almost drowning.

Nick ran through the dark and dank corridors of wherever he was being held, finally spotting some daylight pouring in from somewhere. He ran towards the square of daylight on the floor, spotting a window up high in the room.

He locked the door of the room he was in just in case Bernie and Mack managed to get out then looked around for anything that could give him a boost up to the window.

Dragging a table towards the wall, he climbed on top so he could reach the window. The metal table felt cold and painful against his bare feet as the three psychos had dragged him right out of bed and he was only in shorts.

Nick struggled to force his hands against the frame of the window to get it open. It was a lot harder than he expected, especially with his broken finger that was of no use to him right now, only for causing him even more pain.

Nick jumped as he heard footsteps running down the hall, followed by heavy fists pounding against the metal door. He struggled again with the window as the door behind him started to give way.

Finally prying the window open, Nick positioned his palms flat against the ledge then struggled to pull himself up and out just as the door burst open and the chuckle brothers made their way into the room.

Bernie grabbed for Nick's leg as he struggled to get out the open window, but Nick forced him back with his foot. Forcing himself against Bernie gave him more lift out the window, sending him crashing to the ground outside.

He took a moment's breather, feeling a tingling pain in his shoulder where he landed, but he forced himself to get up as Mack was just climbing out the window.

Nick scrambled to his feet then rushed off down the alley he was in towards an opening where the sun was shining brightly. He looked around the streets he was on, not recognising them at all, but he did spot a phone box halfway down the street.

Quickly rushing off towards it before Mack could climb out of the window, Nick called Captain Jim Brass, telling him about what had happened. He looked around for any street signs, but there was nothing so he gave him the phone box number to trace his location from that.

But Nick couldn't relax just yet as Mack had made his way out of the alley and he was heading right for him.

Nick looked around for somewhere to go, but the street was lined with old warehouses on one side and run down houses on the other, the only thing he could do was run...

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**Please Review!**

**One more chapter to go, I hope you're enjoying the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

Nick ran as fast as he could off down the street with Mack and now Bernie right on his tail. He stopped at a street corner, leaning down on his knees as he took several deep breaths. He looked up at the street signs, deciding to head east as it was the nearest street that eventually led towards the crime lab, but he couldn't run that far on foot. He just had to hope that he found something along the way.

Halfway down the next street, Nick heard the sounds of sirens coming towards him in the distance.

He checked over his shoulder to see how far away Mack and Bernie were then stepped out on the next street, waiting for the police to arrive. Squinting his eyes together to shield them from the sunlight, Nick caught sight of the flickering police lights coming his way.

Bernie just reached Nick as he went to move again, slamming his fist down hard on Nick's back to send him crashing to his knees.

"Freeze! Don't Move!" Captain Brass's voice sounded from the car that just pulled up.

Nick slowly raised his head to look up at him, spotting Brass and the other officers with their guns aimed towards Bernie and Mack.

Nick sighed softly in relief as they were finally here, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Raise your hands!" Brass ordered as he slowly approached Bernie who was towering over Nick.

Bernie looked down at Nick then grunted as he raised his hands either side of his body. Brass pointed his gun towards Mack who did the same, allowing the officers to cuff them and haul them into the back of one of the police cars.

Brass signalled for the paramedics to come and get Nick to safety while he checked the streets to see if there was anybody else after Nick.

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"Nick!" Greg shouted as he climbed out of his car, running towards Nick who was sat on the back of an ambulance with a blanket draped around his shoulders to keep him warm. He rushed to his side, looking into the Texan's chocolate brown eyes before he checked him over for any injuries.

"I'm okay G." Nick assured him as he looked into the younger mans gorgeous caramel eyes. "Really, I'm okay."

"Stokes!" Brass shouted over to him as he dragged Hanson along with him. "Is this the guy?"

Nick nodded as he looked Hanson in the eye. "Yeah, that's him."

"Alright." Brass hauled Hanson off towards another police car, forcing him into the back.

Greg sat down on the back of the ambulance beside Nick, running his eyes across the grazes on his bare knees before he looked at his hand up in a bandage.

"Nicky, are you sure you're okay?"

Nick looked round at Greg beside him, giving him a soft smile as he nodded. "Yeah, I'm . . . actually, no . . . not really." Greg looked at him surprised. "I have to tell you somethin' Greg. Somethin' I've been wantin' to tell you for a long time." Greg looked at Nick's serious expression then nodded to him, waiting for him to continue. "Greg . . . I love you."

"Did they check you for a concussion?" Greg immediately asked with a smirk.

"C'mon G, I'm bein' serious here." Nick smiled at him as he reached out for his hand. "I love you Greg. I've felt so empty my whole life, but this is the one thing I'm sure of. I love you."

"You should get kidnapped more often." Greg whispered to him, looking at Nick's delicious lips right in front of him. "Well, to be perfectly honest with you Nicky. I kinda always knew."

"You did? You knew, and you didn't tell me?" He asked surprised.

Greg gave him a shrug as he smiled softly. "I was waiting for the right time."

"It's been seven years and you still hadn't found it?" Nick scoffed, shaking his head at him.

"Hey, I'm not the only guilty party here. If you loved me for seven years then why didn't you tell me." He smirked, erupting a wide smile from Nick's gorgeous lips.

Slowly, Nick leant towards him, inhaling a deep breath as he approached the luscious lips he had dreamt of kissing so many times before.

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"The End..." Nick sighed softly. "By Greg Sanders."

"So, what did you think?" Greg smiled as Nick had finally finished reading it.

"Um... well I liked it." Nick nodded to him as he closed the book in his hands. "It's really good G . . . except this beginnin' part," He flipped back through the book towards the front. "Me dreamin' about kissin' you in the lab, and you wrote 'dreamin' about the man he had fallen in love with, but was too chicken to let him know." Nick smiled as he looked round at Greg beside him on the bed. "Since when was I ever _too_ chicken to let you know I loved you?"

Greg giggled as Nick leant over him to press a kiss to his lips. "It's my story Nicky; I can start it however I want to. And I can do whatever I want with the characters involved."

"That's the other thing." Nick chuckled as he flipped back through the book. "A game of name that compound, we play that in the lab all the time. And I get the feelin' these kidnappers didn't want to hurt me very much." He smirked as he re-read a few of the passages. "The breakin' my fingers, that was bad, but the other stuff... they might as well hit me with pillows or somethin'. And I'm not that good in a fight either, I lost to an eighth grader girl when I was in the tenth."

Greg burst out laughing then smoothed his fingertips through Nick's soft hair. "Maybe the writer couldn't bear to see you get hurt?" He suggested as he took his book back from Nick. "I care about you a lot Nick." He smiled up at him. "I never want anything bad to happen to you."

"I can tell." He winked as he joined their lips for another kiss. "And you had me in shorts the whole story." He chuckled as he tickled Greg's exposed sides. "I don't think everyone would want to read about me runnin' around in my shorts."

"Then you seriously don't know what readers like." Greg mischievously giggled. "What I shoulda done is have you in latex undies or something."

Nick laughed as he covered the younger mans lips with his own. "Why did they kidnap me in the first place then G? Was there nothin' on telly that night?" He smirked as he flipped back through the pages of the book on Greg's chest. "And I don't think that this mysterious, very handsome Nick character is written right towards the end either."

"Oh yeah, and whys that?" He queried.

"Because... he wouldn't just kiss Greg on the lips after goin' through all that torture and crap. He'd strip the gorgeous little lab tech right there and then." He smirked as he tickled Greg's exposed stomach.

"So, you don't like the ending?" He smiled against Nick's warm parted lips.

"I think we should make our own endin'." He rasped as he slid his tongue across Greg's lips before he kissed him hungrily, rolling his body so he was on top of the slender figure he adored. He smiled as he pulled back, sliding his hands down the warm body beneath him as he dictated his own ending to the story. "Once the paramedics had checked over Nick, they closed up the ambulance with Nick and Greg inside. Nick immediately dragged the gorgeous young lab tech over to the gurney, pushin' him down on top of it to take what was finally his." He grinned widely as Greg arched his chest up towards him before he continued, "Climbin' on top of the beautiful body he had fantasised about so many times, Nick made the younger man whimper beneath him."

Greg whimpered as Nick bucked his hips towards him, making a satisfied smirk spread across Nick's lips. "He was just tortured." Greg giggled before he gave out a soft moan. "You really think he's gonna rush into this with his sore and battered body."

"The body he's on top of is worth it." Nick rasped as he captured Greg's lips between his own.

**~ The True Ending ~**

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**Please Review if you enjoyed it!**

**I hope you liked the twist at the end, and hopefully the kidnappers games make more sense to you now that you know Greg wrote it all :D I hope this explains how it's different from my usual stories too. I just wanted to try something different from my usual ones to see what you all thought :D**

**Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!**

**~ Holly**

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Check my profile page for the download link for my first book 'Modern Murder' Links should be at the top of the page for E-book & paper book shortly


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